Phone Networks Assemble to Tackle Nuisance Texts

A string of UK phone networks have teamed up with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to deal with the problem of spam text messages, with EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone all lending their support.

The service, developed by GSMA and Cloudmark, will allow users to report nuisance text message by forwarding them to 7726. Rather handily this spells out SPAM, so you aren't likely to forget the number. Operators will then analyse the spam's attack patterns, allowing them to identify the source of the message and shut the operation down. Once the perpetrators have been tracked down, the ICO has the power to issue fines to try and stop them from doing it again.

Once the system is in place, the ICO-network-team-up will be looking into a similar system that will address the ever-infuriating problem of nuisance phone calls. [The Telegraph]